The Toddler Brain: Nurture the Skills Today that Will Shape Your Child’s Tomorrow

What if, despite the best of intentions, we are raising our children to succeed in a world that no longer exists?

More than ever, we now understand that the opportunity for foundational brain building begins right from birth. Yet today’s parents are often overworked, overscheduled and overwhelmed with information on a daily basis. While it can be challenging to simply make it through the day, much less think many years down the line, the key to setting today’s children up for future success is easier than you might think.

The Toddler Brain helps parents recognize the connection that exists between their everyday parenting behaviors and their child’s ability—specifically, between birth and age five years—to develop valuable twenty-first- century skills. With over two decades of professional and parenting experience, pediatrician Dr. Laura Jana draws on studies and stories from pediatrics, neuroscience, social science and childcare, as well as the world of business, leadership and innovation to show parents how best to equip their children with seven skills she identifies as “QI Skills”:

WE: People skills needed to communicate, collaborate, and play well with others

WHY: Curiosity and seeing the world as a question mark

WILL: Self-motivation and drive

WIGGLE: Physical and intellectual restlessness

WOBBLE: Agility, adaptability, and raising children who are fit to fail

WHAT IF: Fostering creativity and imagining a world of possibilities

Dr. Jana provides what today’s parents really need: a strategic plan that continually reminds us of why it is we do what we do, and at the same time allows us to be flexibly persistent when faced with new parenting challenges.

About the author

Dr Laura Jana is a board-certified pediatrician and the award-winning author of Heading Home with Your Newborn and Food Fights. In addition to her position as Director of Innovation at the University of Nebraska College of Public …